Monday, January 21, 2008

Tea in the Snow

Now for those of you outside the South, you have to understand that we southerners have gotten to where we're a bit excited about mere raindrops these days. So to get some snow, and to get it twice in one week ... well, some of us are quite beside ourselves, to put it mildly. Some of us, also, were scheduled to have our first tea party of the year this weekend, and I am happy to report it went off quite splendidly. All three of the invitees made it over just fine on Sunday afternoon, and the tea met my two great requirements for a successful event: 1) There was lots of laughter all around and 2) all the food was edible, some of it even quite tasty.

First, the decor. Now you need to know that ever since I won a certain icy blue vintage tablecloth on eBay on July 4 last year, I have been planning to make it the centerpiece of a tea. The cloth is not quite large enough for my table, so I used it as a topper and was pleased with the results. I was also able to put into service a certain set of teacups and saucers I found for $1 each at an antique mall last year. At first I was bemoaning the fact I hadn't been looking for blue dishes, but the pink flowers on these teacups were a nice accent to the pink flowers on the teapots on the tablecloth. (Not that I obsess over such things.)

I was able to use a vintage blue basket I've had in my sewing room for a while, and also called up for service were these blue napkins (fashioned into bows courtesy of my napkin folding book) that were actually bought to match the striped upholstery on my deck furniture. The tea party favors were almost an afterthought, and -- NOTE: if you were at the tea, please don't read this next part -- quite inexpensive. Michaels has these pearl letters and icy blue notepads for $1 each, and tied together with blue ribbon, I thought the effect was nice.

I'll have more to say about the menu another day, but let me just mention that I managed to completely MASTER a certain shell-shaped French cookie/cake long revered in tea party circles. Yesssss! That's what I'm talking about! And the rest of the menu included: Raisin Mini Scones with Lemon Curd, Ham and Cheese Scones, Salmon Pinwheels, Cucumber Sandwiches, Chocolate Truffles, that certain shell-shaped French cookie/cake, and Cranberry/White Chocolate/Walnut Tea Bread. Our teas included a Czech Republic Pear blend, Chocolate Mint tea from Harney & Sons, and a Peach/Raspberry tea one of the guests found for us at Whole Foods.

Not surprisingly, I was so excited by the time my guests arrived that I forgot to take photos of the food-laden table. Happily, I did go a little camera nutty the day before with all the snow. Cold as it's been this weekend, my lady friends said they'd looked forward all day to getting over here and enjoying all those nice hot cups of tea. It makes me smile just to remember it!

12 comments:

As a fellow southerner, I understand your excitement about snow. I'm glad your first tea party of 2008 was a success. Your table looks beautiful! Love the table cloth and napkin fold. What napkin book did you find that?

What a beautiful job you did! Your friends are very blessed to have had such a wonderful invitation. The tea table shows all the love and care that you put into it. I hope that they realized this and appreciated it. It is so fun to just sit and talk with friends over a hot cup of tea, *sigh*! I am glad you had such a great time.

Well, I could not wait any longer and interrupted my Quiet Time this morning to see if you had posted about your tea party. (Sorry, Lord, I know You understand) And, lo and behold, there it was! As beautiful as I imagined, and more so! Your table was so dreamy and charming, the menu sounds scrumptiously delicious (so happy for your culinary achievement), and delighted to hear that sweet laughter topped it off.(I thought about you as I was driving past the Newnan exit on my way to Auburn to celebrate my girls' 22nd birthday. We had iced tea at our lunch.)

Anyway, just found your blog less than a month ago....and can you tell, I am enjoying it very much.

So, keep up the great blogs. (Oh, by the way, when do you sleep, girl?)

Oh my! I just found you from a post you left on my blog, and I must say, everything here is so charming, so feminine, so civilized! What a nice treat! Last Friday was only the second time I had been to Lakewood 400-I was like you, I had stopped going when they closed at the Fairgrounds. This Lakewood is smaller, no outside vendors this month due to cold, but some of the old people are there. The ribbon lady is the same gal, and I recognized others too. I know this is crazy, but I do miss the food, well I miss the apple dumplings with ice cream...it all added up to my flea market experience. I guess you could say the new Lakewood is a lot less fattening! Your tea party looks AMAZING, and the menu...to die for! Thank you for sharing!suzanne duda

Gosh you gals have made my day today! I was worried I'd rambled on a bit much about the tea, but hey, you read it anyway! And Ginger, the book I mentioned is "The New Napkin Folding" by Joanne O'Sullivan and Terry Taylor. There's a pic of it on the Dec. 4 post if you'd like to see it. It's a neat book!

A perfect tea. Everything came together beautifully including the snow! It appears your jeweled teapot has been completed. Did you use it for tea. It would also make a beautiful flower vase. Blue and white (and pink accents) makes for a gorgeous winter tea.

Your table setting was lovely. The blue was a perfect color for a winter tea. I also enjoy your blog tremendously. It's like opening a gift--clicking on your blog with the anticipation of seeing what tea subject you will bring up.

Ange! I was just checking in to your blog and saw the pix of the tea event... I kept hearing someone say "OH!" "OH" every time I clicked on a picture... then realized it was ME! I was just exclaiming as you know I do, and just loving everything. The photo of the doors open and the snow, with the table in front... that is breathtaking! I look forward to all of your tea party pix this year! What an absolute delight!

GREAT table set up. The "snow" was a perfect effect too! HA! We didn't get snow down our way.I LOVE that tablecover you had on there. Lovely color and cute teapots and such. I am sure you all had fun!!Be blessed,Joyce

"Anonymous" had asked if I used the jeweled teapot. Well, I actually didn't need to use it at the tea, but I DID test it with boiling water in it to see if all the stuff would stick during actual use. And it did! I filled the pot completely with water at a rolling boil, then just left it to cool. I checked it at several points along the way, and not one piece of jewelry so much as wiggled. But I did use a ton of hot glue ...